December News Update — California, Employment, Business, Insurance

December 2017’s trending legal updates, court decisions, and important news in California, Employment, Business, and Insurance.

California Law

People in Los Angeles county can now text 911 during emergencies. The SMS message service is intended for the hearing impaired and those in dangerous situations unable to talk on the phone. Law enforcement encourages victims of crimes to use the text to 911 service as a last resort, as calls are preferable.

13 states including Missouri and Arkansas have joined together for a lawsuit that opposes California’s egg law, which mandates that larger cage sizes are required for egg-laying hens. The attorney representing the states in the proposed lawsuit argue that the higher prices resulting from the egg law are unfair to consumers and farmers.

Uber is facing fresh legal woes for concealing a data hack. California law asserts that companies must inform consumers immediately when there is a data breach. The breach happened in October of 2016, and the company waited until November of 2017 to notify customers that their data was compromised.

Employment Law

The California minimum wage is going up on January 1st, 2018. Businesses that have 25 employees or less are now required to offer $10.50 an hour to workers. Businesses with 26 employees or more must offer minimum wage employees $11 an hour.

Several new laws are going into effect in January of next year that employers are required to comply with. This includes the “ban the box” law, and changes to existing anti-harassment training requirements.

Business News

The FCC has voted to end “net neutrality”, a regulation put into effect by the Obama administration that prevented Internet Service Providers from charging customers extra fees for higher-speed content from sites of their choosing. Groups that oppose the decision are planning to sue the FCC in response to the decision.

The California Drought had a large impact on fisheries across the state — the largest of which had to truck Salmon out to sea. The results now are showing, with the state’s largest hatchery 6 million salmon short this year.